IN HIS first ever Olympic event, Carlos Yulo was unable to move forward to the all-around Gymnastics finals with a total score of 79.931 and a 47th overall standing on July 24, at the Ariake Gymnastics Center in Tokyo, Japan.

Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto surpassed all 62 gymnasts included in Subdivision 3 of the competition, receiving a total score of 88.531 in the all-around event. Hashimoto demonstrated masterly acts in all six events and only received a 0.1 penalty on his floor exercise stint.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Jeahwan Shin impressively topped the vault event, summing up to 14.866. On the other hand, Yulo—the lone Filipino gymnast in his group—qualified for the vault finals after he placed sixth with a score of 14.712. His exceptional execution with the Kasamatsu double full and the Dragulescu earned him a spot to contend for the Philippines’ first Olympic Gymnastics medal.

The Philippines’ sole gymnastics representative, Yulo—a gold medalist in the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship—was expected to be a strong contender for the Olympic gold. However, a shaky start and a few stumbles in his pet event of the floor exercise resulted in a score of 13.566, good for 44th overall. Dominating the floor exercise was Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, who took over the event and tallied a powerful score of 15.200.

Yulo started strong with the still rings event, scoring 14.000 and ranking 24th overall. He put on a respectable performance in the parallel bars tallying a 13.466, landing him at 55th place. He then marked a 12.300 in the horizontal bar which placed him at 63rd overall. Yulo capped off the qualification round with an 11.833 in the pommel horse event—enough for 69th place.

Nevertheless, the 21-year-old gymnast may still hand the Philippines a triumphant finish at the Vault finals on August 2 in the Ariake Gymnastics Center, Tokyo at 5:54 PM Manila Time.